Green Street retaining wall contractor approved
Selectboard Chair David Gartenstein points out the wall that holds up Green Street Extension during a news conference in the Harmony Lot in June. Gov. Peter Shumlin and Commerce Secretary Pat Moulton look on.

Green Street retaining wall contractor approved

BRATTLEBORO — The Selectboard approved a bid from Renaud Brothers of Vernon for a total of $386,379, to repair the fragile 200-foot dry-laid stone retaining wall holding up Green Street Extension.

Renaud Brothers submitted the lowest bid of the five that the Department of Public Works received.

The DPW closed the one-way portion of Green Street, known as Green Street Extension, in September 2014 because the wall was leaning outwards towards the Harmony Parking Lot.

Staff monitored and measured movement in the wall for more than 20 years, said DPW Director Steve Barrett in a previous interview. The wall's shifting and outward lean “accelerated” last year.

“We don't know when that [wall] was built,” said Barrett.

Town maps dating to the 1850s show the wall already in place, he added.

In June, Governor Peter Shumlin announced that the town had received a $300,000 federal grant to repair the wall.

At the Dec. 15 board meeting, Barrett informed the board that of the five bids, four came from Windham County and one from New Hampshire.

This is the second bid round, he said. Bids from the first round this summer didn't meet the town's needs, with one bid submitted as incomplete and the others “quite high” above the town's budget.

The board approved the $386,379 contract, which Barrett explained also included repairs to a sidewalk on Green Street Extension and contingencies for materials.

Subscribe to the newsletter for weekly updates